Politicians ripping off taxpayers

[Lilith7]

Very interesting article but it has nothing whatsoever to do with rich v. poor.

The problem I have is with these discussions that get wound up without anyone defining what they mean by "poor" and what they mean by "rich". I've seen people who play the "poor" card who have more income than us, and before the election the Green party was totally confused - wanting to give tax relief to the same people it was going to bankrupt with wealth tax.

The other issue is the huge over-generalisations made. The bottom line is that need v. greed has nothing to do with rich v. poor.

dken31 has some good comments that come from seeing what people actually do. It's all very well blaming political systems and economic policies, but if you go out and watch how people actually live you get the real story.

I also totally disagree that generational inheritance plays a bigger part than hard work. For some it does, but it's another unfair generalisation that belittles those who worked their way out of poverty. It's also unfair to say that people cannot understand how it is for others in a different space. Empathy is what makes us human.

We are very lucky in NZ that we do have a good welfare system and that we don't have anything like the poverty that some countries have. I stumbled in this by accident the other day https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_co..._2020).svg. It shows just how lucky we are.

" The bottom line is that need v. greed has nothing to do with rich v. poor."

On the contrary, it has everything to do with rich vs poor. 
As it happens I (& I suspect most of us) have known both wealthy & poor people. There's a tendency for those who are extremely wealthy to become out of touch, to the point where they have little or no idea of the struggle others worse off face. 
And once that happens there can then be a tendency to then blame the poor for being poor & ignoring the reality. We live in an unfair system.

And many of us are old enough to know that it wasn't always like this. It does not have to be like this.

https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/bryanbruce

Bryan Bruce
"We don’t live in a fair and just society. It is much harder for today’s young people from our poorer homes to get the kind of start in life that I got, born as I was into a working-class immigrant family, or former Prime Minister John Key got as the son of a single mother growing up in a State house.

We both received the gift of a virtually free tertiary education from a Welfare State that was determined to give us the rights to good food, shelter and education our country had signed up for under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

That isn't the case today.

Neoliberal economics, championed by US President Ronald Regan, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Roger Douglas in New Zealand ,delivered a message of selfishness that fell on eager ears – that there should be less government in our lives and you should keep more of your tax money.

The result ?

A huge gap has developed between the rich and the poor in our country with diminished educational opportunities for kids who live in our poorer homes."

And its by no mean limited to this country.

“Tens of millions oif Americans do not end up poor by a mistake of history or personal conduct. Poverty persists because some wish & will it to.”
“Lets call it the scarcity diversion. Here's the playbook. First, allow elites to hoard a resource like money or land. Second, pretend that arrangement is natural, unavoidable – or better yet, ignore it altogether. Third, attempt to address social problems caused by the resource hoarding only with the scarce resources left over, So instead of making the rich pay all their taxes, for instance, design a welfare state around the paltry budget you are left with when they don't....Blame capitalism. Blame the other political party. Blame immigrants. Blame anyone you can except those who most deserve it. “Gaslighting: is not too strong a phrase to describe such pretence.”

Poverty, by America. Mathew Desmond.

We do not have 'a good welfare system'. 

"Radio New Zealand"After researching poverty internationally for over 20 years, Darrin Hodgetts finds a "victim-blaming, punitive approach" to welfare in his home country New Zealand, where the poor are punished for being poor."


https://tinyurl.com/y75aez9x


http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/progra...-big-stick'

"Statistics New Zealand’s figures reveal the top 10 per cent of the population owns 60 per cent of wealth while the poorest 40 per cent held just three per cent.Evidence of growing poverty documented in the book includes more people unable to survive on welfare benefits opting for loan sharks, despite the horrendous debts they incur. They choose this rather than demeaning treatment when asking for help from Work and Income New Zealand (WINZ) – a symptom of an increasingly dysfunctional welfare system, says Professor Hodgetts, a societal psychologist at Massey University’s School of Psychology."